Hello again, blog!
This week I had to listen to a podcast for an assignment…and since it is Halloweek, I decided to listen to a ~spooky~ one.
I listened to the Stuff You Missed In History Class podcast and chose an episode they republished from 2014 called “Disappearance of Joseph Force Crater,” which is about a New York State Supreme Court Justice’s vanishment – one of the largest missing person cases in American history.
Holly Frey and Tracy Wilson were the two hosts and creators of the award winning podcast, created in 2013. Before the two started co-hosting together, they both worked for HowStuffWorks.
Holly and Tracy told the interesting story of Joseph Force Crater – a New York State Supreme Court Justice that disappeared on August 6, 1930. Crater left for a trip and told his wife he would be back in a week. The morning of his disappearance, Crater had arranged a withdrawal for $5,000, bought a ticket to see a Broadway comedy, and destroyed and moved a ton of his documents. The last time he was seen was after he had dinner with one of his lawyer friends and a showgirl, presumably on his way to attend the show (although many believe that he never went). He was never seen again… It wasn’t until a month later that Crater was reported missing.
In 2005, police found new evidence of the case: a note written by a woman who had died earlier that same year. The letter claimed that Crater was murdered by her husband, a police officer and other men and buried in Coney Island. The area has been excavated…so we will never know for sure.
The author’s goal for the audience was to understand the bizarre story of Joseph Crater’s disappearance and how it is still a mystery as to what happened today. I learned that because these crazy events happened in 1930, it was not unusual for someone to be missing for a month before realizing it because there was little communicative technology available at the time. Today, if someone does not call or text after a few hours, people start to get worried something happened.
I like that the podcast had two hosts. Sometimes it can become boring when it is just one person talking alone. I also thought it was effective that the two already had a concrete story constructed and limited too many side conversations. When too much commentary is added, the stroy can get lost and become hard to follow. I wish that there could have been some “spooky” music or background noise while they were telling the story. I feel like it would have set a more mysterious tone and really added to the story.
Personally, I am a visual person. I like being able to see and watch pictures or videos or even the host talking. I just listened to the podcast on my computer on my bed before going to bed. I realized that when I don’t have anything for my eyes to focus on or a task to do while I listen, it is hard for me to follow along. I found myself getting distracted with other things and had to rewind the podcast to hear what they said (I probably would have been able to listen better if I was doing an easy task like driving or walking). I also looked up pictures because I wanted to visually see what they were talking about and I could better picture the story in my head.
I think I would have liked listening to history better if I was listening to a real recording or something similar. There is a famous 1938 radio broadcast called “War of the Worlds” (https://youtu.be/OzC3Fg_rRJM). It was a special scary story that was told on the radio in honor of Halloween that caused people to actually believe aliens were invading.
Being able to listen to this broadcast of what people actually heard was more impactful than merely a story being told – I would much rather see some sort of visuals in that case. However, I dislike listening to history rather than simply reading it. Listening to someone else adds more than just words on a page.
